


Reprieve

by orphan_account



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Human AU, Pearl - author extraordinaire, as you'll no doubt see, but not really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:03:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9306506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Or, Pearl quite likes to write in her free time. It certainly alleviates a significant amount of stress.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The second installment of that most _riveting_ daily life of the human gems. I assure you, the initial scene may or may not have just been me choreographing myself through words.

Sitting in the nigh-unadulterated darkness of her room, Pearl stared at a bright computer screen. The occasional clacking of thin fingers on shoddy keys was the only sound in those grand vistas of silence. Leaning back in her seat, Pearl sighed. Nothing was quite coming together in the way she wanted. Regardless of whether or not it was _conventionally_ a good read, she sought only the utmost excellence in her writing. 

Whilst she rocked side to side in the computer chair, Pearl’s eyes darted about the dimness once in a fruitless attempt to divine some sort of inspiration from the corners of her mind. Fingers upon the computer’s trackpad, Pearl was mere centimeters away from opening up her school email before she checked herself, removing her hand from the device entirely. Now was the time for writing, not academic labor. Head in one hand upon the desk, Pearl stared at the screen, growing increasingly agitated by the _fucking scintilla_ of text.

Pearl eyed the digital clock in the far corner of the desk. Eleven twenty-one at night. Fidgeting, she ran a hand through her peach hair. Mere instants thereafter, she distinctly heard a click cast itself toward her from the direction of the door. Attempting to focus once more, Pearl ignored the noise, adding a short sentence to the end of her single paragraph. 

Yet, the click came not without a source. Very slowly, the door creaked open, and a short figure leaned against the now-open doorframe. Squinting, the new arrival peered into the darkness.

“Hey, Pierogi. You alright?”

Pearl didn’t actually register the question for a moment or two. As it dawned upon the now-foggy recesses of her mind, she responded, deftly typing out the entirety of a new thread of half-inspiration all the while.

“Amethyst, of course I’m alright. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Amethyst sarcastically pondered the question for a moment.

“Uh, maybe because you’re in complete darkness, and you haven’t come out of here in like six hours?”

“I’m _fine_. I’m sure of it.”

Pearl opened her mouth to continue, but was interrupted by the sound of her stomach grumbling, and conspicuously, at that. In response, Amethyst grinned slyly. 

“Oh, really, huh? You sound kinda hungry to me, P.”

Descending just a little deeper into the confines of her chair, Pearl’s face burned furiously. Pressing her lips together into a tight line, she rebuffed Amethyst in no uncertain terms.

“I don’t want _food_. I want results.”

The shorter woman was about to raise an objection, before being cut off by Pearl’s raising of a single index finger into the air.

“I was planning to shower soon, anyways.”

Amethyst said nothing. In response, Pearl glanced at the clock, and continued to type. Eleven thirty-one was perfectly reasonable for writing, not eating. _Come on_ , Pearl thought to herself, _you can do this._

Catching herself on the flow of her wording once more, Pearl began typing at a consistent pace, significantly better than her performance had been mere minutes prior. Naturally, she tried to ignore the other presence in the room. After all, the story was finally piecing itself together. The corner of Pearl’s mouth quirked upwards ever so slightly.

The minor success was cut short rather abruptly as a pudgy arm wrapped itself around her shoulders. For but a brief instant, Pearl’s body tensed, a dulled pang of fear shooting itself from the pits of her stomach upwards. She calmed herself as she recalled the other present occupant of the room. Amethyst. Right.

Perhaps she was a tad tired, Pearl granted to herself.

Soft lips hovered by her ear.

“P, we’re going. We both know you’re hungry. Okay?”

Pearl opened her mouth to utter a word of cold defiance, but found herself staring at her screen, and the pitiful results her rigorous labor had gotten her.

“Fine.”

Quietly, with whatever dignity she had left, Pearl rose from her seat. Almost immediately, Amethyst’s arm casually slid off of Pearl’s thin form. The substantially-taller of the two froze just as she took a step toward the door, looking to Amethyst.

“When... was the last time you showered, Amethyst?”

A grin slowly formed on Amethyst’s face. She chuckled, and drew her response out as much as she could.

“Hmm. I’d have to say... huh. Five days? That ain’t bad.”

Pearl shuddered, and continued to walk out of the room.

“I don’t even want to think about that.”

Carefully creeping past the pair of closed bedroom doors across the hall from Pearl’s, the pair made their way downstairs, arriving in the kitchen. Evidently trusting Pearl to grab something to eat herself, Amethyst immediately took a turn to the left, diving upon the couch with a muffled thump. Pearl rolled her eyes, and carefully opened up the fridge. 

She examined the thing’s contents. She didn’t feel _that_ starving, so she might as well go with something light. After moments of deliberation, Pearl removed a salad packet and a bottle of dressing from the fridge, closing the door as carefully as possible, as to not elicit any noise in the dead of night. _Unlike Amethyst_ , she might had added, only half-jokingly.

Grabbing a paper plate and a fork from a nearby cabinet, Pearl swiftly organized her meal, remembering quite distinctly to replace the dressing bottle back within its spot in the fridge. Turning to set her plate neatly upon the proper position at the kitchen table, Pearl saw Amethyst eyeing her for only a moment’s time before extracting her phone from her pocket. Wordlessly, Pearl began to eat, groggily forcing the lettuce down her throat.

Amethyst looked up from her screen to lock eyes with Pearl, and then her food. It took all of two seconds to analyze the situation, and the short girl was reduced to a fit of strangled laughter. Pearl made an unamused face. 

“What’s so hilarious, exactly? And please try to keep quiet.” 

Stifling her laughter over a period of seconds, Amethyst responded.

“Alright, alright. You got me. But still. It’s almost midnight, and you’re eating _salad_ at the _table_? I mean, _fuck_ , dude.”

Instinctively, Pearl glanced up at the stairs, beyond which she vaguely knew Steven was, sleeping soundly.

“A _methy_ st. Please.”

In response, Amethyst merely rolled her eyes and snorted. Leaning back on the couch, she grabbed a handful of M&M’s from the bowl on the living room table, manipulating her phone with one hand. Pearl absentmindedly commented upon the situation as she ate.

“There’s nothing wrong with eating food where you’re supposed to.”

The two sat in quiet for several minutes, one playing some app or other on her phone, the other attempting to consume some semblance of dinner at a time far too late for it, in Pearl’s own opinion. Yet, it was a comfortable silence. 

As Pearl ate, however, her mind wandered back to that most unfinished of stories presently just sitting on her computer upstairs. In her new state of renewed energy, it seemed to mock her, to taunt her relentlessly. She couldn’t let it stand. Even if it were just an inanimate string of text, she needed completion. Glancing down at the vestiges and remnants of her small salad, Pearl decided she wasn’t all that hungry anyways, to the obvious displeasure of her stomach. As such, Pearl quietly slid out of her seat, dumping what little remained of the salad in the trash. Quickly placing her fork in the sink for later, she crept up the first step of the stairs.

“Wait, Pearl.”

Cringing ever so slightly at the sudden noise, Pearl turned around to face the visage of Amethyst, who had evidently risen from the couch. Pearl decided to play it safe.

“Yes?”

“Please try to get some sleep. I know you wanna work on writing, but you look exhausted as hell.”

Pearl blinked. _I suppose it wouldn’t matter if I stopped for tonight,_ she thought. Her continued visual indecision, however, led Amethyst to grab her hand momentarily.

“Please, ‘kay? I know you don’t have work tomorrow, so you can… do it then?”

Pearl considered the thought. _I wasn’t really getting much of anywhere, was I._

Finally, under Amethyst’s surprisingly watchful gaze, Pearl nodded.

“ _Yeah_ ,” she decided, “tomorrow.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes a bit, and gave Pearl a playful punch.

“Night, then, nerd.”

Pearl smiled as she ascended up the stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed.


End file.
